Everyone knows about Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.
It got me wondering what a marketer’s hierarchy of needs are. From the most basic needs to the top of the hierarchical pyramid. These are the 5 levels of hierarchy I came up with.
Level 1: Brand
Your brand is your foundation. Marketers need a brand to market. Successful marketing can’t exist outside of a brand—even the most basic branding, like a name, a product, or an idea.
Level 2: Publishing
You can’t steer a stationary ship. You can’t market an unpublished product. So publish your work, your website, your blog, your tool, essay, your tweet. Publish and start exposing your brand.
Level 3: Conversion
Marketers need conversions. Your marketing is not effective without conversions. You’ve sent your emails, but nobody’s clicking. You’ve written tweets, but nobody’s engaged. Get a conversion, even if it’s just a heart on a tweet.
Level 4: Sales
We aren’t marketing for pride. We’re marketing for revenue. Whether you’re marketing for your own personal brand or for a global corporation, you will live and die by sales. It’s a slow burn if you’re marketing for yourself with no sales—but you’ll get snuffed out fast with no sales in the big pond.
Level 5: Brand Ambassadors (ie. True Fans)
Customer acquisition is not only expensive, it’s time-consuming. Marketers need brand ambassadors. The loyal fans who market your product for you. The ones who will buy every new product you release and read every post you publish. You can survive without them, but it’s exhausting, and also a symptom of a bigger problem (your product isn’t worth sharing).
I’d love to hear what you think. What are your needs as a marketer and how do they vary from this?
PS - flip the pyramid over and what have you got?